This Is How We're Gonna Play It
by Violet's Veil
Summary: Annoying brother-figure. Colleague. Friend. There was a time when he was perfectly fine with those labels, but something changed. Reno's having trouble dealing with his not-so-platonic feelings for Elena, in spite of her being involved with their boss. [Reno/Elena, Relena, RenoXElena; Rufena, Rufus/Elena, RufusXElena] Oneshot.


**This Is How We're Gonna Play It**

by Violet's Veil

Reno slipped out onto the fifth floor balcony of Natalia Gravine Hall and fished in his pockets for a cigarette. They were on the fifth floor of the hall which was some high-class meeting place with a ballroom in the middle of downtown Junon. It was also where ShinRa was making its latest effort to prove how much it had changed and how its new energy source was going to make a bunch of people rich and happy and make the teeming masses comfortable without the implications of mako energy. Something like that, Reno hadn't read the memo, he just knew he had to dress up for it and make sure no one decided to shoot Rufus ShinRa in the head, or worse, bomb the place.

Reno'd set ground rules for this as far as dress code was concerned: No ties, no sissy shoes, and he was not cutting his hair. That was a no fly zone. Rufus, Tseng _and_ Elena finally relented and let him get away with an open jacket, a nice black dress shirt that was slightly unbuttoned—of course—but tucked in—unfortunately—and his hair was slicked down in a simple ponytail instead of his usual wild-haired look.

Elena'd told him he looked nice, so there was that.

And Rude let him borrow a pair of designer sunglasses for the occasion. Rude couldn't be the only one looking sharp all the time. Said glasses were currently resting against his chest, one of the arms clinging to the third button on his shirt.

He fished out one of the two cigarettes he'd brought with him and his cigarette lighter. He flicked it open and held the flame to the end of the cigarette.

As soon as the fire caught, the cigarette was slipped from his fingers and the culprit was none other than Elena. Before he could grab for it, she threw it over the edge of the balcony where it disappeared into the night.

"Laney, have you lost your mind?" He asked, looking over at her from the corner of his eye. "I should punch you in the face."

"You promised you were gonna stop," she said, a frown furrowing her brow. "And I dare you to try it."

Reno laughs slightly, scoffing and looking away at the city.

He couldn't be mad at her—the fact that she cared enough to do that every single time she caught him lighting up was….nice. And to think when she first joined the team a while ago he didn't particularly like her. She looked too much like her sister—it was almost as if she was a carbon copy of her. And she came off as just a little whiny and flaky—like she was trying to prove something—and that just rubbed him the wrong way. He'd expected her to be dead within the first month. But, he was also just pissy because he'd just gotten his butt handed to him by the Cloud and his old crew and was in a lot of pain. Either way, he knew Tseng wouldn't have chosen a new Turk without good reason, even if the new Turk was a bit...rough around the edges. In retrospect, he was glad she not only survived her first month, but was still on the team.

"Laney, you're gonna stop doing that," Reno said, whipping out the second cigarette.

She grabbed for it, and he pulled away easily. She tried again, this time stumbling a little in her black 5-inch heels and falling against him. He caught her around the waist, and she slipped out of his arms, attempting once again to grab the cigarette.

"Reno! Stop, you're gonna smell like an ash tray, and we have to get back before Rufus does his speech." She said this while grabbing for it one more time.

"That ain't my problem, stop it..stop…stop..stop—"

Reno backed away into a corner near the edge of the balcony. Elena pushed her hair—curled for the occasion—out of her face and let out a puff of air in frustration. He loved how she scrunched up her face when she didn't get her way.

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms.

"Thank you," Reno said. He lit it and slipped it between his lips, watching her the entire time, a smug look on his face. Even so, he knew that this wasn't the end of her onslaught. She could be disgustingly persistent. Waiting for what was to come, he contented himself with taking her in with his gaze for the third time tonight. She was wearing black—as they all were—her choice a black evening gown that had a thigh high-slit where he could see the hint of her gun holder wrapped around her thigh. He wondered vaguely if she was hiding knives in her bra again.

"You look nice by the way—I mean, for you," he finally says, pulling his lips into his patented grin just to piss her off.

Success. She hated being complimented. Elena's frown grew more pronounced and she curled her upper lip in mock disgust. "Now you're just being mean."

"No I'm not! You really do. I bet if Tseng or Rude or Rufus said it you'd believe them." He stressed Rufus's name to make a point.

Elena doesn't say anything for a moment, clearly getting the message. She adjusts her black evening gown, narrowing her eyes slowly, putting herself in an aggressive stance, feet apart, hands balled into fists.

"Laney…don't you do it…."

Too late.

Elena threw herself at him, grabbing for the cigarette. They struggled for a bit, elbows and knees and hands in places they really aren't meant to be. Being faster than her, he managed to slither out of her reach, only for her to grab him by his jacket and yank him as hard as she possibly could—which was really really hard given that he often forgot how strong she was. That was, until he was on the receiving end of it.

He caught himself before falling by grabbing her as well and they toppled onto the cold, hard surface of the balcony, landing on their backs next to each other.

"You little witch," Reno said, laughing.

"Well, do like I say and this won't happen to you," came her reply.

They both lie there for a bit, on their backs laughing up at the starless, autumn sky.

As the laughter died down, Elena went back into business mode. Sitting up, she tapped her earpiece. "We better get back, they're going to be looking for us."

"_Reno, is there a problem? Where are you and Elena? Report." _ He heard in his own earpiece. He looked over at her, rolling his eyes dramatically, mouthing that it is Tseng.

Elena looked over at him slightly worried. She still didn't like upsetting Tseng, even after a few years of being a proper Turk. Before Reno could stop her, she replied to her commander in her usual trying-to-sound-serious voice. "Sir, we're outside. Reno was taking a smoke break. We're coming back in."

Reno pulled himself up to his feet, dusting himself off and looking around to see where the cigarette had landed. It was teetering at the edge of the balcony, a stream of smoke billowing upward.

The next second, he felt a sharp slap to on the back of his head.

"Ouch! Laney," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Don't forget that you hit like a 500 pound gorilla."

Elena snorted in a laugh.

"_Reno, you two need to get back in here. Rufus is about to do his speech. Have the decency to be present." _Tseng said over the earpiece.

"Yeah yeah yeah," Reno responded. "Get your thong out of a bunch, man."

Elena's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. She punched him in the arm. Ignoring the pain, he shrugged and draped an arm over her shoulder casually, pulling her close to him. He caught a whiff of her perfume—definitely done for the occasion. Elena barely had the foresight to even brush her hair some days, let alone put on perfume.

"One day Tseng is going to kick you in the mouth," she said as they crossed the balcony.

"I'll just hide behind Rude and you'd never hit Rude," Reno said over his shoulder, guiding them back into the ballroom.

"Because Rude knows better," Elena teased.

Reno grinned at her, getting her to stick out her tongue at him.

"You're such a child."

"You are."

The teasing had to end, they were back inside and Rufus was already taking the stage, the masses turning toward him. Time to be a Turk—a watchful shadow. They joined the crowd, standing at their designated spots to keep an eye on things, as their boss, the best liar and most effective manipulator Reno knew, took the stage to spew half-truths in the name of progress.

When Rufus' presentation was done, and the clapping was beginning to cease, Reno relaxed a little, and started to scan the crowd for Rude so they could beeline for the open bar.

He was easy to spot, being the only tall, bald guy in a nice suit with multiple ear piercings and more muscle than fat. Mid-wave, movement caught his eye. He glanced over in time to see Rufus charming a group reporters and Elena interrupting him with a light hand on his shoulder.

It was barely noticeable, some people would've assumed she was his assistant giving that she wasn't wearing the most expensive jewelry or hadn't been all over him the entire night, but he knew better.

Rufus dismissed himself from the group smoothly, graciously and discretely took Elena's hand. They were talking about something and Elena was glowing brighter than a 100-watt bulb. Reno just knew she was working hard to not jump up and down in public. She was proud of Rufus, hell, they all were. Rebuilding after Meteorfall is not a small undertaking.

Even so, the lingering humor he'd felt earlier died fairly quickly, and he felt that increasingly familiar pang in his stomach. He hated feeling this way—it was so unlike him to care so much. To care so much about someone in this way and to know he'd never get what he wanted.

He wasn't even sure of what he wanted. The feeling had came over him so suddenly. Or maybe it had been gradual, unnoticed for years. Somewhere between constantly picking on Elena, pranking her with Rude, making her freak out in the name of fun, and those darker, heavier moments when work got just a little too real...he started to feel something else other than brotherly affection or camaraderie.

It didn't matter, he told himself. She had made her choice. He wouldn't be a good fit for her anyway. He'd get over it. He was the king of getting over things.

Reno looked away and scanned the crowd for Rude again, needing to get out of his own head and talk to his partner, his best friend. He spotted Tseng first; he was stalking around the floor, watching people, pretending to nurse a glass of scotch. No way Tseng would allow himself to even get remotely buzzed while on the job. Especially at such an important job. Typical Tseng.

Reno snorted to himself, Tseng was probably wound tighter than usual on nights like this.

Finally spotting Rude, he made a beeline through the crowd, slipping through groups of chatty guests, the motions so smooth the people didn't even realize he'd pushed them aside until he'd already passed. Rude was at the bar. "Hey Tseng," Reno said, tapping his earpiece as he continued towards Rude.

"_Yes?"_

"You've been a Turk too long to not know how to relax man."

"_I know how to relax when it is the time and place. You could learn from me."_

"Yeah yeah, like how to miss out on a good thing?"

"_I have no regrets, Reno. You could learn from me."_

"Yeah, like how to be a wet blanket."

"_Say what you will, Reno."_

Reno laughed slightly, but didn't say anything else, he'd reached the bar. Rufus' party planners were being very generous with the alcohol choices. He sat down beside Rude, ordered the first thing that came to mind, and turned to face the crowd. Reno scanned the crowd for Elena and Rufus—they made such a stark contrast in black and white—but they were nowhere to be found. They had probably left the main ballroom to find a private, dark hallway to 'talk business'. Talking business meaning they were probably hiding away for a quick kiss like a couple of teenagers.

He tried not to think about it. Nothing he could do about that, now could he?

"…." Rude said, getting his attention by clearing his throat.

"Don't judge me, Rude," Reno said, reaching back to grab his drink from the bar just as the bartender sat it down.

"I didn't say anything," he said in his velvety, smooth voice.

"You were thinking it. Just let it out man." They knew each other too well to hide anything from one another. Even when they wanted to.

Rude sighed, sipped his drink, and rattled the ice around the glass for a moment. Reno stared at him without blinking, waiting on Rude's words. Unlike himself, Rude put a lot of thought into what he was going to say, and Reno valued his friend's input because of that.

"Are you ever going to tell her?" Rude finally said.

"Tell who, what?" Reno said, feigning ignorance. They knew each other too well, but it was still more interesting than to just agree. He didn't want to agree about Elena—it would make it real.

"Is that how we're going to play it?" Rude asked. He could feel Rude's gaze on him from behind his dark shades.

Reno met his gaze head on, rising to the challenge. "I have no idea what you're talking about, man."

He could feel Rude judging him. He stared him down. Rude relented first, sipping his drink again and looking away. "Whatever you say, Reno. Whatever you say."

"Yeah," Reno finally said, sighing. "I know." He sipped his drink, not really tasting it. What else could he say? He hated when Rude was right.

He'd get over it. He had to.


End file.
